Kentucky Southern College was an idea that was born in 1955 when the Kentucky General Association of the Southern Baptist Convention decided that Louisville needed a Baptist educational institutional to serve the more than 600,000 Baptist church members in the area.  Rev. Henry Beach put forth a formal resolution to the Association proposing that a 4-year Baptist College be established in Louisville, and a committee was set up to study the issue.  The dream was born.

By 1957, initial plans for the campus were drawn up and fund-raising was underway.

In 1958, a 238-acre site on Shelbyville Road was chosen for the campus, and construction site-preparation began in 1959.

In 1960, the new Louisville Baptist college was named “Kentucky Southern College”, and Dr. Rollin S. Burhans was chosen as the first President.  The year 1960 is considered the founding year of the school.

In 1961 architects were chosen and campus design began with a contemporary theme emphasizing light and openness.   

In 1962, faculty were hired (young with average age 30, professed Christians, most with PhD’s), students were recruited, books were collected for a library, and fund-raising continued. The construction of the administration-classroom building began with a public ground-breaking ceremony.

The new campus was projected to open for business in Fall of 1963, so classes were held at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary for Freshmen and Sophomores starting in the Fall of 1962.

The Trimester System was announced, advertised as a program where a student could finish 4 years of college work in 2 years and 8 months, saving the students both time and money.

The new Baptist college was not just for Baptist students.  Dr. Burhans said that students of all religious faiths were welcome to apply.

In Apr 1963 the Interrelations of the Disciplines Course was announced, advertised as an attempt to achieve the unification of knowledge by developing a profound Christian insight into the nature of man, society and the universe, to be taught to the students for 8 consecutive trimesters.  

In Jun 1963 plans were announced for the building of the residential complexes on campus, with the buildings designed in a low-profile style to match the administration-classroom building.  The house system was innovative, designed to bring curricular and extracurricular activities together for the students, with each complex containing a lounge-seminar room to promote discussion groups outside the classroom.

In Aug 1963 the Courier Journal published a 12-page detailed brochure describing Kentucky Southern College, now called a College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.  In the brochure, KSC was described as a “dream-possessed” community of scholars, founders and trustees, who wanted to establish a new college in Louisville where intellectual interests were dominant, where academic excellence was cherished, and where Christian character was honored.  The broad general purpose of the college was to engage in a living experiment to test the proposition that academic excellence and Christian commitment provide an ideal educational experience for the development of the mature personality.

In Aug 1963, Kentucky Southern College moved into its new campus, located at 9001 Shelbyville Road, Louisville, KY.  The first reception was held at President Burhan’s new house on campus, and classes began in the new administration-classroom building.  The housing complex buildings were opened in 1964, plans were underway for building a Student Union Building, and KSC was fully operational.

Innovative, experimental and idealistic, Kentucky Southern College fulfilled all its promises during its 7 years of operation in all areas except finance.  Never adequately funded, the college closed its doors due to financial difficulties in 1969 in a merger with the University of Louisville.  U. of L. took over all of the KSC assets and liabilities, and 9001 Shelbyville Road became the Shelby Campus of the U. of L. in the Summer of 1969.